County Puts Sprinkler Bond Issue on Ballot : Election: $100-million measure would equip older high-rise buildings. The action follows spectacular fire in health department headquarters.

Los Angeles County supervisors Tuesday placed on the June ballot a $100-million bond measure to equip older county high-rises with sprinklers in the wake of last month’s spectacular fire that devastated the county health department headquarters.

If approved by two-thirds of the voters, the measure would raise property taxes on a home assessed at $125,000 by about $1.32 annually over the life of the 20-year bond, said Chief Administrative Officer Richard B. Dixon.

Supervisors voted to place the measure on the ballot unanimously and without discussion.

But in a surprise move, the board left off the June ballot a $520-million park bond measure after it was criticized by Los Angeles City Council President John Ferraro, who said city projects, including the zoo, would be shortchanged.

“We’re not getting a good deal out of this,” Ferraro said. “The people of the city of Los Angeles will be obligated to pay $174 million . . . and you’re giving us $67 million (for specific city projects) plus $25 million” for the City Council to allocate for additional projects.

The supervisors responded that when county projects, such as refurbishing the county-run Hollywood Bowl are added, nearly $200 million of the bond funds would be spent within the Los Angeles city limits. “It would seem that you’re getting your fair share,” Supervisor Deane Dana told Ferraro.

A version of the parks measure for which the board in January signaled its tentative approval had provided $5 million for the zoo, but that figure was deleted from the version submitted Tuesday for final approval.

The measure’s author, Esther Feldman, director of special projects for the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, said the $5 million was “redistributed to other city projects because city park people were very adamant that ($5 million) was inadequate.”

But Ferraro said the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Assn., the private support group for the zoo, had been asked to contribute to the political campaign in support of the measure--which Feldman denied. GLAZA officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Even before Ferraro addressed the board, proponents of the measure asked that it be placed on the November ballot instead. They said the delay would give the economy time to recover and improve the chances for winning voter approval for the proposed $12.52-a-year assessment for a median single-family home on a lot of one-seventh of an acre.

The sprinkler bond measure was prompted by the Feb. 15 fire at the 14-story Department of Health Services’ administration building downtown, which caused at least $3 million in damage. Firefighters said that sprinklers would have limited the damage from the blaze.

Fire officials said Tuesday that the fire was caused by “an unknown electrical device, either a short or failure of an electrical device.” Arson has been ruled out.

Since 1974, fire sprinklers have been required in all high-rise buildings constructed in Los Angeles. All county buildings five stories or taller constructed since 1974 contain sprinklers, officials said. The health department headquarters was built in 1971.

In the aftermath of the 1988 fire at the 62-story First Interstate Bank building downtown, a city law was passed requiring installation of sprinklers in all tall buildings built before 1974.

But the law does not apply to residential, state, county and federal buildings.

Los Angeles city voters in 1989 approved a $60-million bond to fund safety improvements in old city-owned high-rises, including City Hall.

Supervisors voted to wait and see if the bond measure passes before deciding which buildings should be equipped with sprinklers.

A 1988 county survey found that it would cost $95 million to install sprinklers and remove asbestos from about two dozen county buildings, including County-USC Medical Center, the Hall of Administration, the Hall of Justice, the Criminal Courts Building and the County Courthouse.

Some $50 million of that would go to install sprinklers at County-USC. The county now spends $500,000 a year for employees to walk the halls of the 20-story main hospital building looking for fires 24 hours a day.

Rather than installing sprinklers at County-USC, county health director Robert Gates said county officials are hoping to win voter approval of a future $1-billion bond issue to replace the aging hospital with two smaller hospitals, one at the present County-USC site and the other in the San Gabriel Valley.